Beauty is a Side-effect......

Hi, Folks!!! Every time I feel compelled to write, there seems to be a huge reason to let words drop through this humble blog 'o' mine. And this time is no exception.

Having attended yet another seminar (the LCB Series' first one, "Writing for Authentic Audiences", led by one of my mentors, Mrs. Gladys Baya), a few reflections are in order: this one was heavily attended -25, 30 people in all?-, taking into account the earliness of the hour (9:30 on a coldish Saturday). The warmth of the well-known atmosphere struck me right from the beginning. I stepped once again on the soft, cherished wood floors, only to find dear faces, greeting me into that irregular-shaped classroom.

The seminar went smoothly, and at a given time something strongly drew my attention: a poem on a wall, written by an 11-year-old boy (*), and a verse running "....Beauty is a side-effect everyone has". Then my heart skipped a beat: I suddenly remembered a Cyndi Lauper song, "True Colors", about human nature, and how deceiving can be to draw shallow portraits of people based only on looks......as I started to ponder on this, another flash of humbling light struck, making me recall some commercials on TV regarding 'not so beautiful' people advertising a soap brand. All this became a sweet remainder of how children can always bring us down to earth. The title phrase, resourceful in simplicity, freshly gets us rid of unwanted perfection, strips us from 'Maya' -the Hindu word for illusion-, and helps us delve deep beyond flesh and bone.......so,

Hark!

Children play

just as grownups do

on the thin ice of Life.

and Different is just a word

uttered in places unkind,

yet True Colors soar

when we all become blind.

(*) You can find the complete poem -and some more enlightenting ones- in : http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=163105484